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Rootkit May Be Behind Windows Blue Screen

Posted by kdawson on from the pre-owned dept.

L3sPau1 writes "A rootkit infection may be the cause of a Windows Blue Screen of Death issue experienced by Windows XP users who applied the latest round of Microsoft patches. It appears that the affected Windows PCs had the rootkit infection prior to deploying the Microsoft patches. Researcher Patrick W. Barnes, investigating the issue, has isolated the infection to the Windows atapi.sys file, a driver used by Windows to connect hard drives and other components. Barnes identified the infection as the Tdss-rootkit, which surfaced last November and has been spreading quickly, creating zombie machines for botnet activity."

5 of 323 comments (clear)

  1. Inadequate regression testing by Ralish · · Score: 5, Funny

    Next time you might consider doing some backwards compatibility testing with popular rootkits, yes? Just a free tip Microsoft!

    1. Re:Inadequate regression testing by shutdown+-p+now · · Score: 4, Funny

      Next time you might consider doing some backwards compatibility testing with popular rootkits, yes? Just a free tip Microsoft!

      But if we do, the makers of less-popular rootkits could sue us in EU for monopolistic preferential treatment! ~

  2. "It's not a bug, it's a feature" by davidwr · · Score: 3, Funny

    "Yes, our security update crashed your computer. We hope you enjoyed our anti-rootkit feature."

    --
    Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
  3. "Rootkit May Be Behind Windows Blue Screen" by thatskinnyguy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rootkit? I don't see it. Maybe it's because this damn blue screen is blocking my view.

    --
    The game.
  4. Re:Sounds like a good thing by SCPaPaJoe · · Score: 3, Funny

    I sure am glad I have Vista!!!